A tremendous amount happened not only at the May 15, 2014 school board meeting, but also the following Monday (May 19) and Thursday (May 22). Here are the highlights:

Dave Meranda and Nancye Bruck were recognized for their service to the Milford school district through the Athletic Boosters. These two impressive leaders have worked for several decades combined, working to help raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the district and our students in a variety of ways – the most recent of which is the turf football field, the single-largest donation the Athletic Boosters have made.

Students in the Future Educators of America program were recognized for their accomplishments at the National FEA Conference. Read more here.

DECA students Gered Lockwood, Ben Saulnier and Madison Kemp were recognized as National Level DECA competitors.

Erin Gottsacker was recognized for being named to the Ohio Music Educators Association All-State Band, where she played First Chair clarinet.

The softball team was recognized for winning the first league championship in Milford School history. Clickhere to read more (along with a surprising report on sportsmanship from a Track & Field event).

The Milford Schools Foundation awarded its spring grants, bringing the total it has awarded in the years since its inception to over $181,000! This year, the Foundation awarded $21,900 in grants for a variety of items. Click here to see the grants that were awarded.

The Milford Schools Foundation has a number of events coming up. They will have their second annual golf outing in October; last year’s was very successful. Also in October, they will hold a jeans day for Milford staff, where staff can wear jeans if they make a donation to the Foundation. The annual Night of the Stars, a fundraiser, dinner and event to honor alumni, will be Saturday, November 1. The Wednesday before the winter break will be “funny dress day,” another in-school fundraiser. And finally, the Foundation is encouraging voluntary payroll deductions from Milford staff members to help support the organization that supports them. Visit their website here.

Jeff Johnson, Operations Manager, presented an update on the construction project for the two new elementaries. Information, including sketches & floor plans, can be foundhere.

On Monday, May 19, the district held a public auction for Milford Main and Seipelt Elementary. No bids were received. The auction is the first step in the sale process for publicly-owned buildings; the district is now free to accept private offers and negotiate outside the public process. The district has already received one proposal and has heard of more interest.

At a special board meeting on Thursday, May 22, the board approved a new transportation contract. After opening the process through a Request for Proposals, Operations Manager Jeff Johnson received and reviewed three bids. One company did not meet the requirements of the RFP; the other two proposals, from Petermann and First Student, were both excellent and competitive. After a thorough review and evaluation, Mr. Johnson and Dr. Farrell recommended accepting the five-year Petermann contract. This new contract saves the district appr. $500,000/year vs. the current contract, and also provides more technology for our buses.

At the May 15, 2014 board meeting, the Milford BOE was proud to recognize Bill Marran, 31-year teacher and 50-year track coach, for his years of service. As Bill was recognized, he also received a big surprise: the board approved a resolution naming the high school track after him, making it the Bill Marran track. Bill has coached an estimated 1,850 boys and 650 girls during his tenure as a coach!

These are the comments Activities Director Mark Trout made when announcing the MHS track will become the Bill Marran track. At the end of the comments is the resolution passed by the board.

Bill Marran has coached at Milford since 1963. Fifty years. This is his 50th consecutive season of coaching track with a specialty of hurdlers/sprinters. He has also coached football and basketball at Milford for many years.

Some stats and highlights:

52 years coaching total – 50 at Milford in track/basketball/football – 2 at CNE

Bill has coached approx. 1,500 track athletes (just in track – not including other sports)

He has coached 16 State Qualifiers in Track: 12 boys and 4 girls

He’s been the Head Boys Track Coach for 7 years

His Highest Finish = 2nd place in the GMC (1990-91)

Bill was also a Milford teacher for 31 years (33 years total teaching service)

Bill was inducted into the Milford Athletic Boosters Club Hall of Fame: Class of 2007

As person, I don’t think Bill has ever met a stranger. He enjoys the art of conversation. My favorite Bill story – everyone has one – it’s the Junior High basketball season, in the early to mid ‘90’s. I’m coaching 7th grade. Bill is the assistant to Jim Panko for the 8th grade team. At halftime, it’s my job to watch clock; Jim comes out to the court, but no Bill or team. “Bill is talking to the squad,” Jim says. We wait. Chat. Wait. At about bout 30 seconds to spare, the team comes running out with Bill still talking in the ear of the last kid in line. I was concerned about the team getting out to take the floor on time; Bill was concerned about teaching kids how to play the game. Probably a happy medium in there somewhere, but Bill is consummate teacher. He’s always instructing. He’s always such a joy to be around.

We want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Bill for 50 years of service to our district and most importantly, to our kids. On behalf of the EAC, I am thrilled to recommend to the Superintendent and Board of Education that the MEVSD track be officially named the “Bill Marran Track” in honor of Coach Marran’s extraordinary dedication and commitment to coaching in the Milford Athletic Program.

Thank you!

This is the Resolution read by Gary Knepp and unanimously approved by the board:

Whereas Bill Marran has been a valued employee of the Milford Exempted Village School District for 50 years – 31 as a teacher and 50 years as a coach;

Whereas Bill Marran has coached an estimated 1,850 boys and 650 girls during his tenure as a track coach at Milford;

Whereas Bill Marran has coached twelve boys and four girls who were state qualifiers in track;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Milford Board of Education, in recognition of Bill Marran’s half-century of exemplary service to our student athletes, does hereby name the Milford High School track – the Bill Marran track.

Share this:

Like this:

At the May 2014 meeting, the board approved the revised five-year forecast, which must be updated every year. The forecast shows revenues are up $3.6 million this fiscal year due to several different sources. It also shows revenue increases of $3.1 million in fiscal years 2015-18, the other years covered in the forecast. In addition, expenses for this year are down slightly over $600,000, but this is really a trade as textbook purchases of $636,000 have been delayed until next year.

For compensation, the current forecast includes the estimated amount for “steps” in the budget, which is appr. 2% of the compensation budget. The district is currently in negotiations with the union for the next contract; the current contract expires this fiscal year. We are estimating a 10% increase in benefits as a best-guess moving forward with the new self-insured health plan.

When the Milford school district community passed the operating levy last May, the district promised to work to stretch those levy funds at least four years. Under this forecast, this is definitely possible. Treasurer Debbie Caudle has been realistic yet conservative in her projections, and the forecast shows a balance at the end of FY2018 of $3.3 million – significantly better than it has been.

However, it is also important to note how tight our budget is: even with the increases in revenue we received this year and expect to receive over the next four years, our ending balance in FY2018 is only just stable. If these assumptions hold true, a levy will be needed no later than that year to carry us on in the black.

The current board and administration are committed to managing our funds wisely to continue to provide a high level of education while keeping expenses reasonable.

Like this:

Milford Junior High School students had an opportunity to Pay it Forward on April 23, National Pay it Forward Day. Seventh graders canvassed Miami Township and the City of Milford. The students completed some of the following projects: made craft projects with residents at Sem Villa and the Arbors, painted a front porch, weeded and mulched flower beds, installed birdhouses (made by our Robotics Club), picked up litter, washed police cars, cleaned the grounds at the Miami Meadows Korean War Memorial and more! The event could not have taken place without the following donations:

Kohls: Go Green Event $1500

Home Depot: Supplies

Lowes: Supplies

Bzak: 20 yards of mulch and dirt

Petermann: supplied our transportation

Bus Drivers: volunteered to drive us to over 20 locations

Kroger: $20 gift card

The students had a great time and learned how much fun it can be to help others.

Like this:

Every year, Milford High School recognizes the Top 25 students based on their grade point averages. This represents the top ±5% of the class – a huge achievement!

This year’s Top 25 were accomplished and committed to making the future better than the now. They are looking toward careers in politics, medicine, business, international studies, engineering, chemistry and other areas. In their videos, they had positive outlooks on their futures and their time growing up and in Milford Schools.

Like this:

Seven years ago, I worked with then-Community Press Editor Theresa Herron to introduce a unique way to help teach persuasive writing to Milford sixth grade classes. To get students invested in the process and expose them to writing for a broader audience than just themselves and their teacher, we created a “persuasive column writing contest” where students compete and are judged by the community for how persuasively they can address a topic.

The class and teacher work together to choose a topic, and all students write on that topic. The teacher than chooses the top 10 papers. These go to three “community judges,” people just like you & me, who read the papers and decide which five of the ten are most persuasive – not necessarily based on how the papers are written, but on how the students use arguments and data to communicate their point of view.

These top five papers then go to the “final judges,” who are always three prominent community members. This year, our final judges were Mary Wolff, Miami Township Trustee; Amy Brewer, Milford City Councilperson; and Robin Coleman, Milford Librarian. These judges choose the winning paper plus two runners-up.

Then comes the fun part: the winning paper, plus a photo of the top three students, is published in the paper. This year, due to changes at the Community Press, the papers were published online only – and you can read them here!

Below are the photos of the top three students from each school, with a link to the winning paper from that school. I hope you’ll take the time to read these papers – not only are the topics very interesting, but you’ll see just how talented our Milford students are, and how well our sixth grade teachers prepare them for writing more complicated papers starting in Junior High.

Share this:

Like this:

This month’s report has two sections: a Congratulations to the 2014 Varsity Softball Team & a Report on Sportsmanship.

Congratulations, 2014 Varsity Softball Team!

These are the comments presented by Activities Director Mark Trout:

Milford has a rich history of outstanding accomplishments in women’s athletics. An interesting tidbit of that history: according to Promont sources, early records of women’s sports from 1932 indicate the Milford girl’s teams were called the “Owls” and the school colors were green/white. School colors were changed to blue/white just prior to the current red/white. Known records do not indicate definitively when we came to be known as the “Eagles” and when the red and white colors were officially adopted!

Some (of numerous) notable women’s sports accomplishments:

The first-ever recorded women’s league champion was track/field in 1923

Tammy McCallum is the only individual state champion in the modern era: 1991 for shot put

Girls Soccer won their first league championship in school history in 1989 and has won 5 of the last 6 league championships for a total of 8 (most in girls sports)

Girls Basketball went to the Final 4 in 1993

Girls Softball went to the Final 4 in 2004

Girls Golf won their first league championship in school history in 2007 and have won last 2 in row in 2012 and 2013

Girls Swim/Dive won their first league championship in school history in 2010

We are here tonight because your 2014 varsity Girls Softball squad joins this prestigious list of historical accomplishments in Milford women’s sports. While there have been other league champions in a variety of other sports, until this season, Fastpitch Softball has never won a conference title for their school. They join our celebrated list for future generations as the “first” to achieve what we all hope becomes a regular yearly occurrence of dominant success in league play.

Let’s meet the team and coaches, starting with their one senior and noting they consistently played 6 freshmen on varsity squad…your 2014 Varsity SB Team:

Kayla Gregory

Kelly Noll

Hannah Huffer

Alexis Foster

Shelby Kirk

Katelyn Rheude

Devon Johnson

Madison Flynn

Amanda Zanola

Hannah White

Alainna Henning

Hannah Meenach

Kelsey Seitz

Olivia Kabel

Valerie Thompson

Kelly Carraro

And our coaches, Christy Gregory and Tim Gregory.

Ladies, congratulations on your 11-1 ECC championship season, the first for softball in school history, and we wish you all the best in the years to come. Thank you!

Report on Sportsmanship

Activities Director Mark Trout received an unusual email after the May 9 Track & Field event … usually complaints are lodged through the OHSAA, but this was a little different. While the report called out student Eli Rizzo for “sportsmanship,” it was for his supportive efforts of competitors – on the other team!

Details: During the running of the boys 3200 relay, Eli showed great sportsmanship. An opponent ahead of him lost his glasses on the track. Eli stopped, went back, and retrieved the eye glasses before they were crushed by other runners. Eli then continued on to the finish line, stopped, handed the glasses to their owner, and he continued on for his final lap. Eli placed another athlete before himself and modeled true sportsmanship to all runners, coaches, and the attending fans.